


This isn't a joke (but a Green Lantern walks into a bar...)

by amaresu



Category: Green Lantern Corps (Comics), Scarlet Spider (Comics)
Genre: Community: intoabar, Drinking & Talking, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-26
Updated: 2013-06-26
Packaged: 2017-12-16 05:40:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/858474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amaresu/pseuds/amaresu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Soranik doesn't have Warriors, but there are other bars out there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This isn't a joke (but a Green Lantern walks into a bar...)

Soranik blinked as she stepping into the hotel bar. She paused just inside the door, letting her eyes adjust from the harsh brightness outside. There were only two other inhabitants, a man and a woman, who both looked at her as she walked in. The man looked resigned, but the woman leaned over the bar and looked her up and down before asking, “You a hero or a villain?”

It wasn't the first time she'd been asked the question since arriving on Earth and she smiled as she walked up to the bar and sat on one of the stool, putting her power battery by her feet, “Neither. I'm a cop.”

“Space cop?” The man finally spoke. He sounded resigned, like her walking into the bar was just another thing in a long line of things he'd had to deal with lately. She could relate and it made her relax, just a bit.

“Space cop.” She looked at the line of bottles sitting behind the bar and pointed at what looked like whiskey. Guy had made her try that once and she'd liked it. As the woman went to get her drink she elaborated, “Green Lantern.”

“Never heard of you,” the man replied and drained his glass before reaching for the bottle behind the bar. Clearly a regular. That sort of behavior would never have been tolerated at Warriors by anyone not a personal friend of Guy or Kyle. 

“Not surprising,” Soranik didn't elaborate on that. Instead they drank in silence as the woman cleaned up behind the bar. She did her best to keep her pity party private, but she could tell the two were curious.

Finally the man turned to her and held out his hand, “Kaine.”

“Soranik,” she responded as she shook his hand. 

“You're not from around here,” Kaine said. 

She knew he was refering to the fact that she clearly wasn't human, but there were understatements and then there were understatements, “No, I'm not.”

Kaine seemed content to leave it at that, but after the woman refilled their drinks, and gave him a pointed look, he sighed, “I'm only asking this because Aracely will be pissed if I don't and Annabelle,” he nodded at the bartender, “will be sure to tell her everything. Do you want to talk about it?”

She felt like she'd done nothing but talk about it for the past week, but he asked and, despite what he said, he genuinely seemed to want to know. “Alternate universe. I don't know how I got here, but my home world, Korugar, doesn't even exist in this universe,” she stopped for a second to breath because it no longer existed in her home universe either, “and Oa is a lifeless hunk of rock.”

“Oa?” Kaine was apparently a smart man and had decided not to ask any questions about Korugar.

“It's the home world to the Green Lantern Corps.” She finished her drink, “I figured Earth was the best place to go after that.”

Kaine nodded his head and she could've kissed him for not looking at her with pity, “Lots of smart people here. The Avengers or the Fantastic Four might be able to help you.” 

“They're working on it,” Soranik responded, her tone bitter. “Apparently the hole I came through is sealed up now and they've never heard of a universe even remotely like mine.”

Silence settled over them both after that. It was only as Annabelle looked ready to throw something at Kaine that he continued the conversation,“So, what brings you to Houston?” 

It was a good question, “They couldn't find me a way home, so they gave me a hotel room and some money and told me to consider my options.” She was pretty sure they wanted her to fight for them, for this strange Earth lacking all the things Kyle had once took such delight in showing her. She wasn't sure she could. 

“And?” Kaine swirled his glass and didn't look at her, but she could tell he was waiting for the rest.

“Green Lanterns don't sit around feeling sorry for themselves.” She tapped her power battery with her foot, finding comfort in the last thing she had of home. “We go to Warriors, get a drink and a patented Guy Gardner lecture, and get back to work.”

“Warriors is a bar I take it?” Kaine was smiling then and she nodded in response. He grabbed the bottle from behind the counter again and filled his glass before holding the bottle out to her, “I'm not good at lecturing, but I know a couple of people.”

She took the bottle and refilled her glass, “Aracely?”

“She's one of them. Donald and Wally too. If you're in the mood.”

She was fighting a smile at his offer, “Sounds promising.”

“And,” he paused and twirled the his glass in his hands, “I know a thing or two about starting your life over.”

She nodded her head at his words and thought about it. It was nice to talk to somebody who didn't look at her in pity for her situation. The money the Avengers had given her wasn't a lot, from what she was able to gather, but it was enough for a few months until she figured things out. Nothing they said implied she'd have to be in New York while she figured things out, “What's the name of this city?”

“Houston,” Annabelle said as she took the bottle away from Kaine.

Soranik felt an honest laugh bubble out of her at that point, “I went to a planet named Houston once. Kyle said it was painfully ironic and wouldn't stop laughing for days. He was never able to explain the joke to me though.”

The two of them looked at her and Annabelle leaned against the bar with her arms folded, “Now you have to tell me what the planet was like.”

She shared a grin with Kaine before launching into the story. It had been a nice planet, a bit prim and proper, but nice. Maybe she'd finally get the joke.


End file.
